Urgent need for single, global emissions standard

[miningmx.com] – THE events of COP21 in Paris and the WEF in Davos have passed. Weighty issues have been debated and reported. What strikes me as ironic is that our developing nations produce the metals that clean the air for those lucky enough to live in places like Paris and Davos.

The catalytic converter is a cylinder with honeycomb-like structures coated with compounds of platinum group metals (PGMs) – platinum, palladium and/or rhodium.

When fitted to the tailpipe of automobiles, they prevent harmful pollutants from entering the atmosphere. Over the years this device has enabled Europe and the US to impose ever more stringent emission regulations for the benefit of their populations and the planet.

At the other end of the economic rainbow, emerging markets are barely out of the starting blocks when it comes to keeping the air clean.

Surely this is another glaring irony given that car ownership in Brazil, Russia, India and China is expected to reach about 440 million by 2020, according to a 2015 McKinsey study – just fewer than half the number of vehicles currently in circulation around the globe.

If we accept that the transport sector accounts for up to 30% of the developed world’s greenhouse gases, compared to only 3% in the developing world, we cannot afford to ignore the implications of this re-balance.

It presents policymakers with both a challenge and an opportunity. It’s a challenge because these countries are generally between four to 10 years behind Europe in terms of a regulatory framework to govern emissions.

The opportunity is that demand is only just starting to build at a time when vehicle sales in Europe and America are trending sideways.

Six countries in Africa – Algeria, Angola, Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria and South Africa – account for 71% of the continent’s 6.2 million vehicles; three of these countries have virtually no emissions controls. Half of Morocco’s vehicles comply with Euro 4 and in South Africa, the standard is Euro 2 for diesel and petrol vehicles.

The BRIC countries fare only marginally better.

With the exception of Russia (who like South Africa has adopted Euro standard), the others have introduced their own emission standards, the most ambitious of which are comparable to Euro 5.

With this burgeoning growth in the auto sector, the developing world needs to start drawing the same benefits from the clean air that catalytic converters have made possible.

We can no longer deny more than half the world’s population the same clean air and the health improvements that the stringent emissions control program, particularly in the euro zone, has given rise to.

The time has come for a uniform policy around emission controls to align the emerging markets.

Billions of people stand to benefit from health improvement and well-being, while the additional demand created for PGMs will profoundly improve the health and well-being of billions of people, while also bringing a measure of stability to the resource sector currently supplying the raw material to make this possible – in itself a worthy sustainability goal.

Effective emission controls however carry cost implications: they require refinery upgrades and add to the unit cost per vehicle. All of these costs are likely to be passed on to the consumer.

My abiding and fervent expectation is that COP 21 provides the framework for the implementation of Euro 6.

This will require vision and leadership from the largest African economies, the AU, the original equipment manufacturers, the UN, and the World Bank.

If we wait any longer, the inhabitants of Lagos, Shanghai, Mumbai or Johannesburg will continue to be denied access to clean air, which the well-heeled residents of Paris and Davos have had access to since the dawn of emissions legislation.